9 Creative Harry Potter Halloween Costumes

Halloween is my favorite time of year. I'm a makeup junkie so Halloween presents a myriad of creative opportunities there. However, I like Halloween for more than just that. Halloween is the one day of the year where my outside gets to be just as eccentric and obnoxious as my inside. Halloween is also the perfect opportunity to pay homage to another obsession of mine: Harry Potter. There is nothing I love more than a creative Harry Potter costume and you can use these 9 brilliant Harry Potter Halloween costumes as creative inspiration to design your own.

You might be thinking that Harry Potter is too overdone, too mainstream. But here's the thing: doing what others do is fine as long as you approach it from a fresh perspective. Be a Grawp rather than a Ginny. Be a Howler instead of a Snitch. Think outside the magical box, take a peek into your Mirror of Erised, and see where your HP Halloween destiny is going to lead you.

Just in case your Mirror of Erised is too splattered with toothpaste flecks for you to see your Halloween destiny, here are a few creative Harry Potter Halloween costumes to spark your imagination.

1. Missing Nap Time Was Totally Worth It To Look This Fly For The Yule Ball

Hashtag Baby Swag.

2. Dobby Is... A Halloween Costume (But Still Free)

I literally can't stop laughing at this.

Or this. It's just too good.

3. Hem Hem

All you need is some pink tweed and feline china and you have achieved Dolores Umbridge. Mom haircut not included.

4. The Sorting Hat

I can already tell, this hat would be great for when you are really drunk. I would utilize that spacious hat by hiding under it and pretending that I'm sober (or possibly invisible).

5. The Phat Lady

The Fat Lady was a baller and we all knew it. Who better to emulate on Halloween than the Phattest Lady of Them All? Rent a Victorian themed dress with lots of ruffles, slap on some wrinkles and a wig, and then carry around a bottle of champagne or perhaps some alcoholic whipped cream if you're feeling bold. Approach fellow Halloween partygoers. Offer your treat and then, just as they are about to indulge, give them that smug Fat Lady look and say "Password?" Creative password guesses will be rewarded.

6. The Prophecy Has Spoken...

And the prophecy has decreed that you must be Professor Trelawney for Halloween, complete with the backcombed bird's nest. Don't forget to bring your Magic 8 ball. Wander the party and mingle whilst reading fortunes (and perhaps gazing at some tea leaves if you're really dedicated). Once an hour our so, let your face go blank and become 'possessed' as you reveal your latest earth-shattering prophecy [in an evil voice not unlike Christian Bale as Batman]: "THE LAST OF THE VODKA IS GONE. MY BUZZ SHALL SOON BY GONE AS WELL. MY DRUNKENESS CAN'T THRIVE WITHOUT DRINKS TO IMBIBE."

7. A Very Hedwig Halloween

Equal parts adorable, creative, and low-maintenance.

8. Expecto Patronum, Y'all

Makeup Expertise Level Required: Advanced.

9. A Very Literal (And Literary) Take On Harry Potter Costuming

This one is also suitable if you're ever going to an Anything But Clothes party. You can whip up some trendy culottes out of the Half-Blood Prince's book jacket.

Images: Warner Bros; de-ath/Tumblr